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 The
rumour mill is churning frantically in Toulon (and
the southern hemisphere) this week with reports
emerging that star signing Sonny Bill Williams is
unsettled in France, and that Tana Umaga’s position
is under threat from Australia’s former Stade
Francais coach John Connolly.
Australia’s Daily
Telegraph carried weekend reports that controversial
rugby union convert SBW, who is currently injured
with a hairline leg fracture, was homesick and
considering a return to Down Under. While that seems
far-fetched there seems little doubt the former
rugby league star has had a torrid start to his time
in France and that all may not be sweetness and
light chez Williams at present.
The Sydney paper
followed up – under a mocked up photo of their
former player headlined "Bulldogs tell ‘lonely' SBW
Frog Off" - by quoting Todd Greenberg, chief
executive at his former club, rubbishing speculation
they might have the player back.
“We’ve heard those
rumours as well and it’s not surprising at all for
us that he’s homesick. Sometimes he got homesick
when he was living back here in Sydney,” said
Greenberg.
Ouch!
He went on: “If
you’re asking me if we want him back the answer’s
no. We’ve had no contact from Sonny Bill or his
manager. We’ve moved on and our suggestion is he do
exactly the same.
“In my view this
chapter’s over, it’s complete. Sonny made his
choices months ago, the reality is that now he has
to live with those choices.”
Earlier reports had
suggested that if Williams returned to Sydney it
would have to be “on bended knee” and “under the
club’s terms and conditions”.
Of course, the
reality is that Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal
is hardly likely to kiss goodbye to such a heavy
investment after just a few weeks, although he won’t
be that impressed by rumours doing the rounds in Oz
that SBW is unhappy at his treatment by the comic
millionaire.
The DT quoted a
source close to the player saying: “The guy is a
tyrant who is giving Sonny Bill hell.”
To further add to
SBW’s misery he’s also been voted
Australia’s ‘most hated
man’ by readers of the country’s lad
mag Zoo Weekly. Unfeasibly, he beat Bali bomber
Amrozi to the title.
What was that about a
woman spurned? Seems Aussie rugby league fans ain’t
so gracious either.
Meanwhile another
Australian paper, this time the Sydney Morning
Herald, carried a story saying former Wallabies boss
Connolly is being lined up to replace Umaga as
Toulon coach.
It claimed Connolly
is on his way to France to meet Boudjellal this
weekend – while Umaga remains in New Zealand on an
enforced break for ‘personal reasons’.
Boudjellal has denied
there is a problem with Umaga but reports suggest
that Queenslander Connolly could be being lined up
for a director of rugby position, a job that would
be sure to undermine the former All Black’s
authority.
Apart from that it’s
been a run-of-the-mill quiet sort of week for Toulon
following their much-needed win against Bourgoin at
the weekend. That result lifted them to seventh in
the Top 14, and appeared to ease some of the
mounting pressure, but if anything it seems the
opposite has occurred.
This weekend they
travel to high-flying Bayonne, where another defeat
is a real possibility. What will happen after that?
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